Former union minister Raj Kumar Singh on Monday accused Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar of breaking the law during the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, and of running a mission “to disenfranchise people”.
He also called deleting names before verification “a heinous offence. These include a threat to universal adult franchise, violation of electoral law and procedure, centralisation of electoral power, and denial of natural justice through arbitrary procedures. Singh, a retired IAS officer who served as Union power minister in the Modi government from 2017 to 2024, opened his letter with a blunt question on X. Singh said this goes against the Supreme Court’s 1995 ruling in Lal Babu Hussain and Others v. The letter also targets a new appendix to Form 6 that asks applicants for the serial number of their parents’ entry in the 2003 roll.
“Do you want India to remain a democracy?” he asked, before answering it himself: “They are violating the law. Electoral Registration Officer and Others, which he said places the burden on the enquiry authority or the objector and not on the voter. “Here, Gyanesh Kumar has inverted the burden of proof,” he wrote. “This is the first time in history of the country that the mission is to disenfranchise people,” he said. Singh said Kumar was not authorised to add it, as the form is mandated by statutory rules, and claimed it was added against the views of the other two Election Commissioners . “Where can an ordinary person, a young man of 18, access the 2003 roll in 2026?” he asked. He wrote that the move “stopped the registration of all young voters” and claimed that “BJP knows that young voters will not vote for it. On centralisation, Singh said the digital roll was empowered to refuse additions and that revision was done centrally, though only the ERO is designated by law to add or delete names. He said two Election Commissioners pointed out that the ERO, the District Election Officer and the Chief Electoral Officer were not being allowed to access the voter list. “The centralisation of the voter list amendment is dangerous,” he wrote, asking whether it could be used to cut voters from booths that vote against the NDA. The Congress eight concerns that he said Singh has flagged. He said the letter also points to barriers that can disenfranchise young voters, technical criteria weaponised against the poor, a disproportionate impact on migrants and marginalised citizens, and serious questions over the ECI’s institutional independence and political interference.
He added that the mission of the Government and the ECI was earlier to enrol all eligible voters.
Congress leader Pawan Khera on Tuesday called it a “devastating indictment” of the poll body, giving the Opposition a new line of attack.
He rejected the argument that SIR is aimed at illegal immigrants. Poor citizens working away from home cannot spend a month getting registered.
“The illegal immigrants are not affected,” Singh wrote, saying they secure Aadhaar and ration cards soon after arriving. “Why should they sacrifice their daily wages for a vote?” he asked.
